Recap: Savannah Smith Scores 1,000th Career Point in @UNCBearsWBB Loss

Saturday, January 20

Grand Forks, N.D.

1:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

13-5, 5-2

North Dakota

9-9, 2-5

Northern Colorado

North Dakota

1/20/2018 5:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Northern Colorado women's basketball was unable to hold onto a 14 point halftime lead and fell to North Dakota 78-70

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Northern Colorado women's basketball made its final trip to the Betty Engelstad Center Saturday afternoon and are glad it is the last. The Bears saw a 14 point halftime lead turn into a 78-70 loss.

With the comeback win, North Dakota earned its second Big Sky win of the season, while Northern Colorado dropped to 5-2 in the conference and 13-5 overall.
A 15-0 run to end the first quarter gave Northern Colorado control throughout the remainder of the half as they led 28-17. The Bears' three-headed monster of Savannah Smith, Savannah Scott and Courtney Smith combined for 23 of the team's 28 points in the first.

The second quarter was another back and forth affair, but once again UNC closed the quarter strong with a 9-0 run to go from up five to up 14. As the team's headed to the half, Northern Colorado led 47-33 with the Scott, S. Smith and C. Smith combining for 36 points during it.

It was the third quarter that completely changed the game, Northern Colorado could not find the bottom of the basket and North Dakota was hitting everything. The Fighting Hawks outscored UNC 25-8 in the quarter and turned the three-point halftime deficit into a three-point lead going into the fourth.

Jill Morton led the way for the Fighting Hawks during the third quarter run with 10 points as UND closed the third on a 17-3 run. North Dakota outshot UNC 66.7 percent to 15.4 in the third.

Momentum stayed with North Dakota to start the fourth quarter as they scored the first seven points and built a 10 point lead. That was enough, as the Bears never cut the gap to less than six the rest of the game.

What They Said
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge

On the difference between the first and second half
"We could not have played a better first half. We moved the ball, attacked and got a lot of baskets at the rim. We played with great pace and confidence and took a 14 point lead into the half and then a different team showed up in the second."

About the factors that changed the game
"We slowed down and were not fundamental and undisciplined on what we were trying to do defensively and didn't play very hard. All of the sudden the other team played a lot harder and I thought we would have learned our lesson against Weber about getting outplayed. We just really hurt ourselves by not competing at our best every possession. It goes on the coaches too not doing well in the second half and we let a team that was struggling get a lot of confidence, turning into the more aggressive team and we never got our attacking mode back."

What the team can learn from this
"It's just an unbelievably disappointing loss that we will learn from. Seeing that it is January and we have been on the road so much I hope we have learned a lot of lessons that we will need for February and March. We are going to chalk it up to that and hope this team has the passion and pride to play not just one half but a full game. It's exciting to be back home next week and be in front of our fans. My expectations for us is to play and compete at a higher level than we did today."

Game Changer
The combination of Melissa Dailey timely 3s and Lexi Klabo controlling the boards allowed North Dakota to earn the comeback victory Saturday afternoon. Dailey finished the game with 17 points, 15 coming from behind the arc as she hit five 3-points, usually at just the right moment. Meanwhile, Klabo had an impressive double-double with 16 points and 17 rebounds. Six of her 17 boards came on the offensive end to help UND earn second chances. She was one rebound short of tying Northern Colorado as a team in the stat column.

Stat to Know
Holding Northern Colorado to just one shot each time down the court was key for North Dakota to earn the comeback on Saturday. UND dominated the glass with 39 rebounds to just 18 from UNC. Klabo and Fallyn Freije each finished the games in double digits for rebounds with 17 and 11.

Game Notes
- Savannah Smith became the 21st member of the 1,000 points club in Northern Colorado history during Saturday's game. Smith, led the Bears with 26 points, hitting a trio of 3-pointers, the only ones made by UNC. At the conclusion of Saturday's game, she has 1,006 career points.
- After dominating the first half, UNC's three-headed monster ended the game with 54 of the team's 70 points.
- Alexis Chapman saw a career-high 19 minutes on the court Saturday finishing with six points, two rebounds and an assist.

What's Ahead?
After two weeks away from Bank of Colorado Arena, Northern Colorado returns home next week. The Bears welcome Idaho to Greeley on Thursday, January 25 at 7 pm. UNC and UI faced each other in Moscow, Idaho earlier this year with the Bears winning 78-72.

Tickets for the game and all Northern Colorado women's basketball games can be purchased at the UNC Ticket Office open Monday – Friday 10 am – 5 pm, by calling 970-351-3645 or visiting UNCBears.com/Tickets.

To stay up to date on all things UNC women's basketball, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Twitter at @UNCBearsWBB.